Historian Thomas S. Kidd shows how the fiery Patrick Henry cherished a vision of America as a virtuous republic with a clearly circumscribed central government. These ideals brought him into bitter conflict with other Founders and were crystallized in his vociferous opposition to the U.S. Constitution.

An in-depth biography of the iconic American revolutionary that “helps us understand the significance of Henry’s enduring image” (The New York Times Book Review). Patrick Henry was a charismatic orator whose devotion to the pursuit of liberty fueled the fire of the American Revolution and laid the groundwork for the United States. As a lawyer and a member of the Virginia House of Burgess, Henry championed the inalienable rights with which all men are born. His philosophy inspired the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and, most significantly, the Bill of Rights. Famous for the line “Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry was a man who stirred souls and whose dedication to individual liberty became the voice for thousands. In A Son of Thunder, Henry Mayer offers “a biography as [Patrick] Henry himself would have wanted it written—a readable style, informal, engaging, and entertaining” (Southern Historian). “This is history and biography at its best.” —Charleston Evening Post “A fine job of placing Henry’s idea of republican rectitude in context without ignoring the many ironies of his life as a mediator between the yeomanry and the elite.” —The New York Times Book Review “A narrative that eases the reader with seemingly effortless grace into the rough-and-tumble world of eighteenth-century Virginia. Patrick Henry, patriot, emerges . . . a lion of a man, proud, earnest, melancholy, eloquent. The biographer has done his job; one sets this book down having heard the lion’s roar and having felt the sorrow that he is no more.” —San Francisco Examiner